The 2022 Congressional Elections

[Danny Bateman]

17 hours ago, Ulty said:

Everyone has biases. Everyone. Sometimes we are aware of them, sometimes we are not. Sometimes our biases manifest in ways that we might not expect. 

 

Those of us who are white, in our private conversations, do we talk about racial issues with our white friends and family in exactly the same way as we do with our black friends? How many of us have actually talked about racial issues with a black person? As white people, aren't we often a little more aware of our behavior when we are around people of color? I would guess that most white people, racist or not, are at least a little sensitive to how they are perceived when it comes to racial issues.

 

Some of us try to be very aware and take efforts to do the right thing, knowing that it is still possible to make a mistake because we don't know what it is like to walk in another's shoes. Some of us remain willfully ignorant and only respond when someone dares to call us out on our biases or our behavior (even when it is unintentional).

 

 

 

@Lorewarn is right, I think we all have our prejudices. Racism, IMO, occurs in different manners and different degrees for each of us. It is instructive how we respond to it.

 

I definitely fall into the category of youngish white dude who is pretty mindful of my actions vis-à-vis how they could be perceived by someone of a different race. I definitely haven't had a lot of open conversation with other people of different backgrounds about their experiences.

 

I definitely understand people who feel lefties utilize the race card and play the "-ism" game too much trying to have labels for everything and everyone because I share some of those concerns. But I'm more concerned/perplexed by the backlash amongst those right of center. Particularly starting some time around 2016, a lot of conservative folks became a lot more comfortable just spouting off some pretty blatantly racist stuff, obviously believing that's socially acceptable now.

 

I'm even more astounded by the "white people are disadvantaged in today's society" crowd because holy f#&% that's a truckload of brain-dead nonsense.

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

This is weird. 
 

 

[teachercd]

https://news.yahoo.com/more-1-million-voters-switch-040817454.html

[BigRedBuster]

33 minutes ago, teachercd said:

https://news.yahoo.com/more-1-million-voters-switch-040817454.html

How many of those are switching parties for no other reason that to be able to vote Republican in primaries?

[teachercd]

3 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

How many of those are switching parties for no other reason that to be able to vote Republican in primaries?

No idea...I would think a decent amount though.

[TGHusker]

Oklahoma has primaries on tomorrow.  Most Rep are campaigning as a 'trump candidate' even after what we've seen on the J6C hearings.  Pretty disgusting to listen to - how they hold up trump as their example.  Most of them talk with an angry, mad mood as they repeat the trump talking points of white nationalism.  Reagan republicans can no longer be found.   I take that back, there was one GOP candidate ad that did mention Reagan and not Trump.  There are I believe 13 candidates trying to replace Senator James Inhofe, who is retiring, in a special election.  Sen Lankford is also running for re-election.  There is a Mike Flynn endorsed Christian nationalist trump supporting radical running against Lankford. There is a lack of any original political thought with most of the 16 people running for both Oklahoma Senate seats.  

[knapplc]

2 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

How many of those are switching parties for no other reason that to be able to vote Republican in primaries?

 

I know several people who did this just in my circle of acquaintances. Every one of them did it to vote against Herbster.

 

They ignored a huge part of the story to run with "Dems in disarray."

[TGHusker]

35 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

I know several people who did this just in my circle of acquaintances. Every one of them did it to vote against Herbster.

 

They ignored a huge part of the story to run with "Dems in disarray."

I think we'll see that a bit in Oklahoma.  The Dem primaries basically don't matter here. Some races have just GOP candidates.  So obviously for a vote to matter, they will have to vote in the GOP primary.  I plan on doing so and I'm searching out the candidate least affected or should I say 'infected' by the trump cult.  Hard to find in Oklahoma but there are a few.  The leading candidate for Sen Inhofe's(retiring - finally in his upper 80s - and we think Biden is old but I digress) senate seat is 2nd Dist rep Mark Wayne Mullen who tried to get both of trump's impeachments reversed in the house.  There most likely will be a run off (13 candidates for that one seat) - so I hope someone close to being a never trumper ends up in the runoff.  

[TGHusker]

 

Here are 3 of perhaps the top 5 vote getters for Inhofe's senate seat.  You all should remember # 3 below.  One of Trump's most infamous cabinet choices who at the time I thought would do ok in the cabinet.  He went bunkers  once he got to DC however.   What a choice:

 

 

Mullin ran for the 2nd District house several terms ago.  He first ran on a 3 term limit pledge.  After his third term he said, "Just Kidding".  He has ran and run 2x since. Shame on the 2nd district to vote him in again and again - they had some excellent options besides him.  The 2nd district for solidly Democratic for many years prior - except when Tom Colburn held the seat before he became Senator Colburn (he died several years ago). So he has become the career politician that he said he'd never become.  He is leading the race. 

Markwayne Mullin (R)

 

Oklahoma GOP U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin announced in February he’s giving up his seat in the House of Representatives in order to run for the open Senate seat. Mullin is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, and, according to his campaign site, he is “100%” anti-abortion. 

Mullin owns Mullin Plumbing in Oklahoma, and lives at Mullin Ranch with his wife and six children. 

Mullin’s campaign has been focused on protecting the second amendment, and “fighting the Radical Left’s attacks on our way of life.” Mullin supports former President Donald Trump’s agenda, according to his site and commercials, and he emphasized his hope to finish the proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Mullin also released an advertisement, “What a woman is,” criticizing Penn State swimmer Lia Thomas and the presence of transgender athletes in competitive sports.  

In 2021, Mullin tried to fly to Afghanistan and allegedly threatened John M. Pommersheim, the U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Tajikistan, for not assisting him with a large sum of money. 

 

Nathan Dahm (R)

Sen. Nathan Dahm hopes to stop the teaching of critical race theory, secure the country’s borders and enact term limits on members of Congress. Dahm has been outspoken of his support for former President Donald Trump, saying he was “abandoned by spineless politicians,” according to his campaign website. 

Dahm worked as a Christian missionary, and he said after seeing “the ills of communism first hand,” he knew he wanted to run for office. Dahm supports Second Amendment rights, hopes to send Chief Medical Advisor to the President of United States Dr. Anthony Fauci to federal prison and wants to keep the federal government “out of Bitcoin.” 

Dahm showed his support for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, issuing a press release thanking God “for this incredible victory.”

 

 

Scott Pruitt (R)

Scott Pruitt is a former state senator, former Oklahoma attorney general and former Trump Administration Environmental Protection Agency chief. 

During his time as the EPA chief, Pruitt fell under scrutiny because he lived in a Capitol Hill condo which had ties to an energy lobbyist, according to the Guardian. He also spent large amounts of money on trips, flying first-class and spending $43,000 on a soundproof booth for phone calls. He also was criticized for demanding armed protection at all hours of the day, spending $3 million in expenses and overtime budgets. 

Pruitt advocated for the use of coal and fossil fuels during his time as EPA chief. He also rejected climate science and did not support the Paris climate agreement. Pruitt eventually stepped down in 2018. 

Pruitt is a large supporter of the oil and gas business. He has campaigned to secure the border and stopping inflation. Former Governor of Texas Rick Perry has endorsed Pruitt. 

This candidate does not have a campaign website. 

[DevoHusker]

 

 

This tweet reflects my personal views. 

[TGHusker]

19 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

 

 

This tweet reflects my personal views. 

Yes, I'd like to place 'former' in front of many names.  

[BigRedBuster]

 

[BigRedBuster]

We live in weird times. 
 

 

[Danny Bateman]

9 hours ago, TGHusker said:

The Dem primaries basically don't matter here. Some races have just GOP candidates. 

 

Not to detract from the rest of your post TGH (good luck with your vote) but I thought this was an important takeaway. SO MANY places are like this now. We keep losing competitive races at all levels of government as politicians increasingly choose their own voters. 

 

For me at least the end result is feeling a lot more like it's all just an illusion of choice and giving up on meaningful anything from politicians. Maybe that's the intended effect. Either way it's a bummer.

 

Quote

Competitive congressional districts have been steadily disappearing for decades. In the current redistricting cycle, six highly competitive districts in the House of Representatives were drawn out of existence. The Cook Political Report estimates that less than 8 percent of congressional districts will be competitive come November.

 

This is a problem. It’s not because competitive districts are a powerfully moderating force on our democracy — instead, the decline of competitive districts is a problem that reflects deeper causes of partisan polarization and leaves the overwhelming majority of Americans in places where their votes don’t matter, and where parties and candidates don’t need to work for anybody’s votes.

 

Governing in America requires compromise. But when over 90 percent of congressional districts lean toward one of the two major parties, that means most representatives have little incentive to compromise. In fact, representatives increasingly face strong pressures to be very partisan, which has made governing very difficult.

 

But perhaps more importantly, when there isn’t competition, citizens and parties have little reason to show up and vote. Instead it becomes the highly organized donors and activists who are engaged, while the rest of the district is ignored. It’s true that competitive districts might not produce especially moderate candidates, but they are important when it comes to engaging and informing citizens. And this participation has valuable spillover effects for communities, well beyond our elections. 

 

 

[TGHusker]

20 minutes ago, Danny Bateman said:

 

Not to detract from the rest of your post TGH (good luck with your vote) but I thought this was an important takeaway. SO MANY places are like this now. We keep losing competitive races at all levels of government as politicians increasingly choose their own voters. 

 

For me at least the end result is feeling a lot more like it's all just an illusion of choice and giving up on meaningful anything from politicians. Maybe that's the intended effect. Either way it's a bummer.

 

 

 

Agree